A Stray From Canon
by MewLover54
Summary: A group of trainers were on their way to Jubilife City. Then, in the wild they encountered a buneary that they wanted for the team. Sound familiar? Well, maybe. But then again, maybe not. [PikaBun]
1. A Chance Encounter

**ML54: Hey, guys! So, this is an idea that just popped into my head and I decided to give it a shot. Clearly it's an Alternative Universe story and, as always, I don't own** **pokémon. Enjoy!  
**

* * *

 **A Chance Encounter**

It was just a normal day in Sinnoh. The sun was just rising over the forest, waking a certain group that were making their way to Jubilife City.

However, the peaceful morning was soon torn apart by distressed, feminine screams coming from a certain blunette's tent.

A black haired trainer looked up from training his yellow mouse-like pokémon in concern and headed over to said tent. "Dawn, are you okay?"

"Don't come in here, Ash!" A voice shrieked back, causing said trainer to fall back in surprise.

"Um...Why not?" He asked, confused. His yellow companion jumped onto his shoulder, also concerned.

"[Hey, what's up with Dawn?]" He asked his trainer.

Before Ash could answer, Dawn yelled out: "My hair is a mess! I can't come out until this disaster is fixed!"

There was a pause of about five seconds, before Ash sighed. "Aw c'mon, Dawn. It can't be that bad."

"No, it's worse! Now leave me alone to fix this!" She finished, causing Ash to let out one more, exasperated sigh before giving up and leaving her be.

"Okay. Just don't take too long. We've got to get moving soon," He said, then walked over to another person, a spiky haired, dark-skinned man, who seemed to be cooking food.

"Is Dawn okay?" The man asked, to which Ash nodded.

"She's fine, Brock, she's just having a bad hair day," He replied, to which Pikachu nodded in agreement.

"[Yup,]" Pikachu said. He then hopped off his trainer's shoulder to go talk to a purple monkey-like pokémon and a turtle-like pokémon. "[Morning, guys!]"

"[Good morning, Pikachu!]" The turtle replied pleasantly.

"[Yo,]" The monkey grinned, tilting her head. "[So...Dawn's got bed head, huh?]"

"[I wouldn't mess with her if I were you right now, Aipom,]" Pikachu said, noting the mischevous look in the monkey's eyes. "[She sounded really upset.]"

"[All the more reason to mess with her! It'll be all the funnier!]" Aipom exclaimed, rubbing her hands together at just the thought of it. "[It'll be so much fun!]"

"[Um...I'm with Pikachu on this one,]" The turtle piped up, looking worried. "[I don't want to get on anyone's bad side...]"

Aipom looked to the two of them before huffing and folding her arms. "[Alright fine, you pair of boy scouts, I'll just go bug Ash instead!]" She said, before getting down on all fours and rushing off.

Pikachu sighed, exasperatedly, before giving the turtle a grateful smile. "[Thanks for the help, Turtwig.]"

"[Oh, it's okay. I know how embarrassing it can be when you look all messy. I didn't want Dawn to get all flustered,]" He explained, kicking up some of the dust under his foot.

"[Yeah. Also, Dawn was acting all scary before and I didn't want her to start yelling again,]" Pikachu said, sheepishly.

Before they could continue their conversation, they heard Dawn yelling for Piplup to use bubblebeam. Then noticed some weird rustling going on in her tent.

Before they could go over to see what was going on, Dawn emerged from her tent with her hair in its usual fashion. Piplup, a blue penguin-like pokémon, then got out and rushed up to them. "[Hey, what do you guys think? I certainly did wonders, huh?]" Piplup asked, proudly, lifting his beak up to the sky.

Pikachu and Turtwig looked over at Dawn for a few seconds, before Turtwig said: "[Um, forgive me, Piplup, but Dawn looks the same as she always does.]"

"[What?! No way, her hair is _way_ shinier and cooler than before!]" Piplup argued, indignantly. When they continued staring at him blankly, he turned away. "[Hmph! Some people just don't understand fashion!]"

"[...Sure, let's go with that,]" Pikachu sighed, rolling his eyes. He then noticed Aipom in the corner of his eye. She was creeping up behind Ash from the ground, while said trainer was distracted by his conversation with Brock and Dawn.

She caught him looking and gave him a sassy wink…

...before jumping onto Ash's shoulder and stealing his hat.

"Gah! Aipom!" Ash cried out in annoyance, getting out of his seat to catch his quirky pokémon. "Get back here with that!"

"[Oh! Not again!]" Pikachu groaned, before chasing after her. "[Aipom, cut it out! This is, like, the fourth time this week!]"

"[Yeah, and his reaction gets funnier and funnier!]" Aipom shot back, laughing.

* * *

Meanwhile, from the bushes near the group, a brown rabbit pokémon with cream fluff adorning its: waist, feet and the tips of its ears was eating an oran berry. Happily enjoying the morning sun.

 _Boy, is it good to get away from my brothers for a while,_ she thought to herself, grabbing another berry from the bush. _I swear, if I had to wrestle Toby for another pecha berry, I might've just decked him in the nose._

She sighed and looked up to the sky, watching the clouds roll past. "[Maybe I should look for a trainer today...After all, it's gotta be more exciting than here,]" She mumbled to herself in a scratchy, tomboyish voice, liking the idea. "[Yeah...Maybe. After all, those boys won't miss me.]"

Making up her mind, she got up and started to hop to where she remembered the old road was.

 _I wonder what having a trainer will be like,_ She continued to think to herself. _I mean, some of the girls around here say that trainers are awful creatures that make us fight to the death but...I don't know, that sounds a little farfetched._

She suddenly heard, what sounded like, a cry of distress and rushed over to where she heard the noise. "[Oh no! She sounds like she's in trouble!]" She said to herself.

After about a minute or two, she peeked her eyes out of the bush and saw, what could've been, one of the strangest things she'd ever seen.

There was a black haired trainer and a yellow mouse like pokémon, a pikachu if she remembered correctly, chasing a purple monkey pokémon. The purple pokémon, whose species she didn't recognize, was holding a hat in its hand-like tail.

The whole scene was rather amusing and she openly started giggling as a piplup was smacked out of the way by the purple pokémon. And then a potato somehow found its way into the air.

All of a sudden, though, the pikachu managed to grab the hat from the monkey, said hat landing on his head. He then dove off the picnic table to grab the potato out of the air.

The rabbit blinked as the mouse did three front flips and landed in the middle of the road.

 _Huh, neat,_ She thought to herself, grinning. She appreciated a good show of skill and, judging by how well the pikachu made that landing, he clearly had a lot of it.

 _He looks like he could be a good opponent,_ She continued, getting giddy, her ears punching the air in anticipation of her reveal. _Yeah! Definitely!_

She then started to hop lightly, getting ready to jump out and challenge him to a battle. _Alright! A one! And a two! And a-_

" _Look out!"_ She turned to the left and noticed a human machine driving down on a straight path towards the mouse. Said mouse looking like a deerling in the headlights as it came towards him.

 _Three!_ The rabbit finished, jumping out of the bushes and tackling the pikachu out of the road. The machine rushing past the pair of them, the wind barely brushing the bunny's foot fluff as it passed.

"[Phew, that was close! You were almost a pikachu sandwich!]" She said, grinning at the yellow pokémon next to her. "[You okay?]"

"[Huh, oh yeah, I'm f-]" The yellow pokémon mumbled before he looked up at her. He then seemed to pause and stare at her.

This caused her to blink and tilt her head in confusion. _Uh...What's up with him?_

* * *

 _Wow...Who's that?_ Pikachu thought to himself, staring at the rabbit that had just saved him. Noting her brown, sparkling eyes and her cute little pink nose. Her pristine brown fur and her poofy cream fluff. _She's...really pretty…_

"[Um, hello? Earth to whoever you are?]" The brown pokémon said, waving her paw in his face. That's when he realized that he had been staring at her and started laughing, awkwardly, and looking away. Hoping to hide how red he felt his cheeks getting.

"[Y-yeah, I'm c-cool. Uh thanks for s-saving me,]" He said, standing up on wobbly legs and offering her a paw up.

She blinked, but accepted the help. "[Uh sure, no problem...Are you sure you're okay? You're acting awfully strange.]"

Pikachu panicked and scrambled to think of something to say to the pretty girl. "[Oh I'm fi- fine, how ab-about you? You dat- I mean doing okay?]" He answered, awkwardly rubbing one of his arms with the other. Said action helping to calm his rapid heart-rate.

The girl tilted her head at him for a bit, before shrugging it off and grinning. "[Yeah, I'm fine. Not my first time playing torchic with the metal boxes!]" She then put her wrists on her hips. "[Anyway, I cha-]"

"Okay, but your pokémon need to look before crossing the road!" Pikachu blinked and looked up at a stern-looking Officer Jenny looking down at him. Vaguely he was aware of Brock being dragged away by a purple toad-like pokémon.

"[Okay, sorry, Miss Jenny,]" Pikachu said, respectively.

"Yeah, that was a close call. I'm glad you're okay, buddy!" Ash said, crouching down to get more eye level with his partner. "And thanks for getting my hat back, you're the best!" He continued, retrieving his hat.

Pikachu blushed, feeling the eyes of the pretty pokémon on his back. "[All in a day's work!]"

Ash then noticed the other pokémon and smiled at her. "And thank you too. If you weren't around, Pikachu might've been seriously hurt."

"[Oh uh, sure no problem!]" She said, suddenly a little more bashfully. Almost as if she weren't expecting a thanks. "[Think of it as my good deed for the day!]"

While this was happening, Pikachu started looking over the girl a bit more. He didn't recognize her species, but he couldn't deny that she was pretty. And, with her acting as bashful as she was now, really freaking cute as well. And the way the sun was reflecting off her coat of fur…

He suddenly caught himself when he noticed her looking at him again and she pointed at him. "[Oh yeah, that's right! I challenge you to a battle!]" She challenged.

"Huh, what's up?" Ash said, getting his pokédex out of his bag. Quickly he scanned the rabbit.

"Buneary!" The mechanical voice announced, before it continued: "The rabbit pokémon. When sensing danger, it extends both ears as an alert, and when cold, it curls up and goes to sleep."

"[Hey! I am _not_ that lazy!]" She argued, folding her arms at the implication. "[Anyway, I want to battle!]" She said, enthusiastically jumping up and down and pointing to Pikachu.

"You want a battle?" Ash asked, to which she nodded. Ash grinned and adjusted his gloves. "Well alright! It'll be cool to catch a buneary!"

"[You can try!]" She called back, teasingly, bouncing far enough away to start the battle.

"Hold on, Ash!" Dawn interrupted, getting in the way just as Ash was about to call out a move. "Maybe I should try and catch this buneary. After all, I only have Piplup and I need another pokémon to be ready for the Jubilife contest."

* * *

While they were talking, the buneary started to tap her foot impatiently. _C'mon! I wanna battle already! What's taking so long!  
_

"Alright Dawn, you can try first," Ash relented reluctantly. Dawn smiled and thanked him before motioning to Piplup.

Not wanting to disappoint, Piplup nodded and jumped in front of Dawn. "Okay, Piplup! Spotlight!"

"[Wait, what?!]" The bunny asked, shocked. "[But I wanted...]"

"[You ready to go down, bunny-girl!]" Piplup declared, cockily. "[Cause I'm gonna beat you and you'll join team Piplup and Dawn!]"

The buneary blinked, before sighing. "[Alright, fine. Guess I'll have to go through the small fry to get to the battle I want then.]"

"[ _Small fry!_ ]" Piplup cried out, indignantly. "[I'll have you know I'm my trainer's strongest pokémon!]"

"[Didn't she just say that you were her _only_ pokémon to that boy over there?]" She replied with a deadpan expression.

Piplup blinked, before grunting, clearly frustrated, and charging at her with a peck. Not even waiting for a command from Dawn. The rabbit grinned and stepped to the side, holding her leg out.

And, almost predictably, Piplup tripped over and fell onto his face. "Oh no, are you okay, Piplup?" Dawn asked, worried.

"[Yeah, I'm fine! I'm-]" He said, before the rabbit slammed her ear into his face and sent him back at Dawn's feet. "[Okay, I'm not fine!]"

* * *

While this was going on, Pikachu just kept admiring the brown bunny as she went about her battle. She was dodging Piplup, expertly, and had a determination that he rarely sees in other pokémon.

 _She's fierce...and cute...and pretty...and…_

"[Yo, earth to Pikachu?]" Aipom asked, waving her tail hand in front of his face. "[You okay, bro?]"

Pikachu's cheeks started to get tinted a darker red and his heartbeat started to pound away. _Her voice is pretty, her eyes are pretty, she's…_

"Piplup! Use bubblebeam!" Dawn declared. Piplup, obediently, fired a volley of bubbles towards the buneary.

Who merely grinned and started to use them as stepping stones. And Piplup realized, all too late, that she was now close enough to punch him in the face with her earagain.

 _She's an awesome battler...she's so...so...cool,_ Pikachu thought to himself before he yelped, feeling a sharp pain in his backside.

He turned to glare at Aipom, who whistled innocently as she withdrew her tail hand. "[About time you came back to us, Romeo. Liking what ya see, eh?]"

"[I uh...don't know what you're talking about,]" Pikachu shot back, turning away to hide his red face.

"[Don't try and hide it, buddy, you've been staring at her since she got here!]" Aipom teased, grinning mischievously. "[Oh, my little Pikachu's growing up!]" She continued, pinching his cheek.

Pikachu slapped her paw away and grumbled. "[I...I don't...]"

"[Pikachu has a cruuush! Pikachu has a cruuush!]" She teased, before noticing that Piplup had been knocked out and grinned further. "[And Pip's been knocked ooout!]"

Pikachu, seeing an opportunity, leaped onto Ash's shoulder to get away from the monkey. But now she's put the thought in his head, it wouldn't go away.

 _Do I have a crush?_ He thought to himself, feeling his heart start to hammer in his chest. Especially hard when the bunny's determined eyes set their sights on him. _She's looking at me! Oh Mew, I think I'm gonna...I'm gonna…_

"Alright, Pikachu! It's our turn now! I choose you-Eww!" Ash interupted himself as Pikachu suddenly vomited on his shoulder. He flinched as it seeped down his jacket, but his concern overpowered his annoyance. So, instead of reprimanding the mouse, he turned to ask:"Ah man, are you sick, buddy?"

The buneary blinked, growing concerned now, forgetting about the battle she wanted. _Aw, poor guy. Must still be in shock about that metal box._ She thought to herself, sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, Buneary, but I'm going to have to battle you some other time. I need to look after my buddy, here," Ash said, snapping her out of her thoughts. She then just nodded, happy with that, and turned to leave.

When Pikachu saw that, he panicked. He didn't want her to leave yet! He hasn't really talked to her! He doesn't even know her name! There's no way he was going to let that happen!

He suddenly, with new found energy, jumped off of Ash's shoulder. "[N-no! I can go! Just uh...ate too much earlier or something!]" Pikachu cried out, getting in a battle stance.

The buneary turned back and tilted her head at the yellow pokémon. _Man, this guy's acting weird._

Ash was having similar thoughts, but just gave Pikachu a smile. "I mean, if you're sure, buddy," He said, catching a washcloth that Brock had thrown him to clean up Pikachu's mess.

Pikachu nodded, his cheeks sparking with electrical energy. "[For anything!]"

"Alright, you ready, Buneary?" Ash declared, pumpimg his fist in the air, excitedly.

The rabbit blinked, before grinning and unrolling both her ears. "[Bring it on!]"

* * *

 **ML54: Hope you guys enjoyed this! And don't worry, I haven't abandoned Mystery Dungeon, this is just something for me to work on to keep me interested in things. I'm just working on two fics now!  
**

 **Pikachu: See, this sounds like old MewLover coming back.**

 **ML54: It's just two this time! I promise. Please review and keep on keepin' on, guys! :D**

 **NOTICE: Okay, so I finished this chapter up and I was happy and then today my laptop decided it didn't want to work anymore. So, uh...depending on the situation, and whether I can find and use a working laptop/computer, I may not be able to update for a while. I'm really sorry, I'll try and find something to do some stuff on. Sorry.**


	2. The Battle

**ML54: Bit of a shorter chapter this time but I felt it ended in a natural place.**

 **Buneary: *rolls eyes* You're just being lazy.**

 **ML54: Am not!**

 **Buneary: Are too!**

 **Turtwig: Uh...ML54 doesn't own** **pokémon.**

* * *

 **The Battle**

Pikachu crouched close to the ground, staring at the buneary opposite him. He was prepared to make a move at a moment's notice. All Ash had to do was to tell him what to do.

 _Okay Pikachu, you can do this! If I win this battle, Ash will catch her. Then I can talk to her, get her name, ask her ou-No, not that! I mean, make friends...Yeah...totally-_

"[Are you sure you're okay there, buddy?]" The rabbit asked, concerned.

 _She called me buddy!_ He thought to himself, happily, but tilted his head. "[Yeah, why?]" He asked.

"[Because your trainer told you to use quick attack at least three times already,]" She replied, rolling her eyes.

Pikachu blinked and turned to Ash, who was also looking concerned. The mouse shook his head and charged forward, speed-lines appearing around his body as he moved.

"[Take this!]" Pikachu declared, jumping up to tackle her.

The bunny just grinned and jumped into the air, a gust of wind appearing under her feet...

...and Pikachu, realizing this far too late, slammed face-first into the ground.

"Are you okay, Pikachu?!" Ash called out, concerned. Pikachu just pulled himself back onto his feet and gave a thumbs-up.

However, the rabbit then slammed her foot into his back, knocking him back into the dirt. Pikachu, after having done so, turned his thumbs-up to a thumbs-down.

Ash cringed, but commanded. "Use thunderbolt, Pikachu!"

Pikachu grunted, but decided to jump up, spinning around to face the bunny. Then he let loose a powerful stream of electricity towards her.

Seeing this, the buneary shot a stream of ice blue energy towards him, much to his surprise.

"Whoa! That buneary knows ice beam!" Brock commented as the two attacks clashed.

Both pokémon pushed their attacks as hard as they could, but Pikachu's proved stronger and managed to push through. Sensing this, the buneary braced for impact. Then the attack shocked her, causing her to fall on the ground.

Pikachu landed back on the ground. And, upon seeing what he did, he rushed over. "[Oh no, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?]" He asked, lending her a paw up.

The buneary, as well as everyone else, blinked in confusion. "[Uh...We're supposed to be battling, you know?]" She asked, looking kind of annoyed. "[And of course I'm fine. Believe it or not, I have been in battles before!]"

Pikachu recoiled and waved his hands, nervously. "[Oh uh, yeah, sorry! I uh...just wanted to be sure.]"

"[Well I'm fine. Also...]" She said, grinning. He was about to ask, before her rolled up ear slammed into his cheek. "[Don't let your guard down!]"

Pikachu held onto his cheek, cringing. _Gah! She hits like a truck!_ He thought to himself, quickly ducking under her second punch. _Man! She's really strong!_

"Pikachu! Use iron tail and knock Buneary back!" He heard Ash call out. Pikachu nodded and swung his tail around, it solidifying and glowing a bright white.

The bunny's ear slammed into it, causing the pair to push against each other, once more locked in a stalemate.

Pikachu flinched as he felt her starting to gain some ground on him. _Okay, wow! She really is strong as I thought...In fact, she may be even stronger!_ He thought to himself, starting to blush again.

However, so distracted by his thoughts was he, that he failed to notice her other ear spring up. Well, until it hit his tail, causing his tail to slam into his nose.

"[Gah!]" Pikachu yelped, pulling away to rub his face, hoping to soothe the pain.

* * *

Aipom, who was watching this battle with Turtwig, sighed. "[Welp...This is going badly,]" She said, bluntly, folding her arms.

"[Yeah. I wonder what's wrong. Pikachu seems distracted,]" Turtwig replied, fiddling with a blade of grass in front of him. "[Is he sick, after all?]"

"[Oh he's sick alright,]" Aipom grinned, folding her arms. "[Lovesick.]"

"[Beg your pardon?]" Turtwig asked, confused.

Aipom waved her tail hand towards the bunny, who was currently dodging around Pikachu's quick attack, and explained. "[Pikachu's been a bumbling, distracted mess ever since she got here. He's never acted like that before. So it's gotta be the reason.]"

Turtwig blinked, looking over the battle again. Pikachu was currently firing a thunderbolt towards the bunny...while the bunny was standing in place, confused as to why the electrical currents were missing her so badly.

"[Oh, well...If that's the case, that's certainly lovely,]" Turtwig said, stars in his eyes. "[It's really quite precious!]"

"[...Sure,]" Aipom said, shrugging. "[But it's not going to happen if he keeps this up! We'll need to catch-and there he goes,]" She interrupted herself as Pikachu was punched right to Ash's feet.

She sighed, stretching her arms. "[Welp, guess I'll go down and help. See you in a few, Turtwig!]"

"[Oh yes! Good luck, Aipom!]" Turtwig caught himself, smiling at her pleasantly.

* * *

"Are you okay, Pikachu?" Ash asked. Pikachu grunted and opened his eyes to see his trainer.

"[How's the battle going?]" He asked, glancing down at the bunny. She was currently hopping from one foot to the other, clearly none the worse for wear. "[Not good?]"

"[Not at all, bud,]" Aipom chimed in, jumping onto Ash's shoulder to glare at him. "[You've been doing nothing but screwing up the entire battle!]"

"[I got her once...]" Pikachu pointed out, to which Aipom rolled her eyes.

"[Yeah, then you wandered on up to her to ask if she was okay. You don't do that in a battle, ya numb-skull!]" She chastised him, pointed to the rabbit. "[You want to meet her properly, don't you?]"

"[Well yeah, but-]"

"[Butts are for kicking, Pikachu!]" Aipom interrupted. "[Cause, if you lose this battle, she's gonna go back into the wild or, worse, join another team. And what if that team is Paul's?]"

Pikachu's eyes sprang open at that. Imagining what would happen if the pretty pokémon, who was now tapping her foot impatiently, would join someone like Paul.

He shuddered before springing out of Ash's arms to stand, battle ready, once more. Ash had no idea what was going on. But he saw Pikachu getting his second wind and rolled with it. "Pikachu! Quick attack, go!"

"[I got this!]" Pikachu muttered to himself, charging towards her once more.

The bunny, once again, sprung out of the way, but this time Pikachu ran up one of the trees behind her. Once he was at the top of the tree, he jumped towards her and managed to knock her out of the sky.

"[Oof!]" The buneary grunted as she rolled along the ground. She noticed the pikachu grinning at her and smirked herself. "[That's more like it!]" She said, excitedly, jumping up. "[Now take this!]" She declared, shooting an ice beam towards him.

Pikachu's ears stood up as Ash commanded him to use quick attack. He ran, being careful to dodge out of the way of the ice rays coming towards him.

After about thirty seconds of this, Ash noticed Pikachu getting close and yelled: "Now! Use iron tail!"

Pikachu nodded and jumped up, doing a front flip as his tail glowed white, and slammed it into the bunny's side.

The buneary grunted, but grinned and threw her ear towards his cheek. What caught Pikachu off guard, however, was the fire that was on it.

"Dodge it, Pikachu!" Pikachu heard Ash say and he, at the last second, jumped away from the blow.

"[Jeez! You know ice beam _and_ fire punch?!]" Pikachu asked, impressed.

The buneary grinned and said: "[Well, you know iron tail.]"

"[Touche...]" Pikachu said, sheepishly. The bunny noticed and started laughing.

"[I like you, you're a lot of fun!]" She said, letting her guard down.

Pikachu blinked, surprised, and felt his cheeks start to burn more. _She likes me!_

"Pikachu! Thunderbolt!" Pikachu blinked and looked at the bunny who wasn't making a move to stop him. She grinned and nodded.

That was all he needed. After all, he knew when a pokémon wanted to be captured.

So he jumped back and fired a thunderbolt at her...albeit a slightly weaker one than before. After all, she wanted to be caught. No point in hurting her too much.

After the zap, which made her fur poof out, she fell over backwards, dramatically. "[Oh no! I'm down! It'd be a shame it someone- _ow!_ ]" She cut herself off as a red and white pokéball smacked her on the head. It then opened up, turning her into a transparent red energy and sucked her into it.

Pikachu looked up, noting that Ash had thrown the pokéball at her, and watched as said pokéball wobbled a bit. Then it settled down and made a low 'ding' sound.

"Alright!" Ash cried out, excitedly, picking up the pokéball. "I caught a buneary!"

"[Yay!]" Pikachu called out, jumping onto Ash's shoulder, noticing that Aipom was still on his trainer's other shoulder.

Said monkey used her tail hand to slap him on the back, causing him to grunt a little. "[Good job, Pikachu! You did great!]" She congratulated.

"[Oh uh, thanks Aipom...]" Pikachu replied, awkwardly, smiling to himself.

"[No problem, dude. Now...]" She began, only continuing when Pikachu turned to her. "[The first thing to asking a girl out is to act calm and collected. So try not to vomit in front of her again, 'kay? Also-]"

Pikachu groaned as Aipom continued to give him dating advice...

...though he's not ashamed to admit that he did listen and take mental notes.

* * *

 **ML54: Alright, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and keep on keepin' on! :D**


	3. Officially Meeting

**ML54: Sorry for the late update on this one. A lot of stuff came up and...Well, I'm sure you guys don't care.**

 **Pikachu: I'm sure it's not that they don't care. They just want to read the fic.**

 **ML54: I guess. Oh well, I don't own pokémon!**

* * *

 **Officially Meeting**

After having caught the buneary, the group continued on the road for a bit. After all, they did have to get to Jubilife City before Dawn's contest started.

However, Dawn was now panicking.

"What am I going to do if I can't catch another pokémon?!" She cried out, looking over her bag of empty pokéballs.

Ash just shrugged, stating: "You can enter a contest with only one pokémon, you know? May used to have to do that back in Hoenn."

"But then I'd just be letting everyone know exactly what to expect in the battle rounds!" Dawn exclaimed, dramatically, looking at Ash pleadingly. "Just...Can you please just let _me_ try and catch the next pokémon we find? Please?! I need another one!"

Ash flinched, Pikachu jumping off his shoulder to avoid being dragged into anything, but nodded. "Yeah, that's fine Dawn. I mean, I have five pokémon anyway. I should be more than ready for my gym battle."

Dawn sighed in relief and smiled at him. "Thank you."

Brock, who had just been listening to this, put a hand to his chin. "Well, that gives us a day or two to find you another pokémon. So, maybe we should stop here and search the area for a while."

The two stopped and looked at him. Dawn letting out a wide smile. "Really?"

Ash, originally, wasn't fond of the idea of prolonging his gym battle. But he'd be a bit of a jerk if he told Dawn that she couldn't look for a second pokémon while he had five. Besides, contests are on a time limit and gym battles weren't.

So, he sighed and smiled at her. "Sure! If we all help out, we'll find you another pokémon in no time!" He said, his fist held up in determination. "Right, Pikachu?"

"[Huh?]" Pikachu said, shaking out of his own thoughts. This caught Ash's attention and he knelt down in front of him.

"Are you sure you're okay, Pikachu? I mean, you keep saying you are. But you're spacing out a lot," Ash asked in concern, causing Pikachu to shake his head and smile up at his best friend.

"[Of course, I'm fine. Just thinking,]" He said, knowing full well that Ash didn't understand his string of 'pika pikas', but knew he'd understand by context.

Ash, still concerned, nodded and stood up. Pikachu then hopped onto his shoulder. "Well okay, buddy. Now let's get to that clearing!" He declared, running forwards to find another clearing.

"Hey, wait up!" Dawn exclaimed behind him, running after him. Brock just sighed and ran after them as well.

* * *

After about half an hour, the group managed to find a serviceable clearing to set up their things. Brock decided to start working on an early lunch, thinking that they may be here a while.

"Okay, come on out, everyone!" Ash declared, throwing four pokéballs into the air.

Once in the air, all four balls opened up and let out his pokémon. Turtwig was out first, turning his neck to let out a couple of cricks in his neck. Then came out Aipom, who happily waved to Pikachu. Pikachu, himself, was sitting on Ash's shoulder.

Then a gray, bird-like pokémon came out, looking incredibly tired and droopy. Then, lastly, the buneary came out, grinning and battle ready.

This caused the bird to squawk in surprise and fall into Aipom. "[Gah! Who the heck are you?!]"

The bunny blinked, before letting her guard down and grinning, sheepishly. "[Oh sorry. I thought I was battling. I'm Julie!]"

The others blinked at her. "[Ash gave you a name?]" Aipom asked, confused. _How comes I didn't get a name?!_

"[What do you mean? My mom gave me my name,]" The buneary clarified, before she made a sound of understanding. "[Oh yeah. I forgot we're basically pets,]" She explained, sheepishly.

"Is everything okay, Buneary?" Ash asked, concerned at the interactions his pokémon were having.

"[Oh, I'm fine!]" The bunny answered, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "[Just gonna have to get used to being called 'Buneary' I guess.]"

"[Ah, you'll get used to it!]" Aipom reassured her, nudging her in the side. "[I'm Aipom, that's Turtwig, the bird's called Starly and the mouse is Pikachu! Welcome to the team!]" She said, noting the Pikachu was shyly hiding behind Ash's shoulder.

"[Awesome!]" Buneary said, smiling and hopping up and down excitedly. "[This looks like it'll be a lot of fun!]"

"[Looks like?! Of course it'll be fun!]" Starly replied, his wings spread out. "[We're the best team out there and we're gonna go for broke and win the Pokémon League!]"

"[Yes, and I'm sure you'll be a marvellous addition to the team,]" Turtwig supported, smiling happily. "[And I'm sure Pikachu agrees, right, Pikachu?]"

He turned towards Ash's shoulder and was surprised to find that no-one was there. "[Um say, has anyone-?]" Turtwig started, before Aipom cut him off.

"[I got him!]" She said, running after a retreating yellow figure into the woods. "[Just give us a minute!]"

The three blinked as they saw Aipom chase after Pikachu, before Starly rolled his eyes. "[Tsk, rude!]" He said, before he motioned for Buneary to follow him. "[C'mon, I'll introduce you to Piplup, Croagunk and Bonsly!]"

Buneary blinked, before shrugging and following after the bird. "[Sure, though I think Piplup might be mad at me...]" She said, sheepishly, causing the bird to tilt his head in confusion.

"[Any particular reason?]"

"[I might have punched his beak into a weird angle during our battle.]"

* * *

"[Pikachu!]" Aipom scolded, barely managing to grab his tail to stop him in his tracks.

This caused him to yelp as a sharp pain shot up his spine. He then lost his balance and fell on his face. "[Ow...]"

Aipom stopped and panted in exhaustion. "[Jeez, you run fast!]"

"[I hope so...It's kinda my thing,]" Pikachu pointed out, twisting around to sit down properly, rubbing the base of his tail.

Aipom, once she caught her breath, folded her arms and glared at him. "[So, why did you run away?]"

Pikachu said nothing, but blushed and pulled his tail around to fiddle with.

Aipom sighed and placed a paw on his shoulder. "[There's no reason to be nervous, Pikachu.]"

"[What?! I'm not nervous!]" He argued, waving his paws in front of his face defensively. However, his red face and twitchy tail said otherwise.

"[Sure, bud. Of course not. I'm sure you just run away from everyone you meet,]" She replied, sarcastically. Pikachu just folded his arms and shook his head.

"[Hey, I didn't run away! I was...trying to find Dawn her new pokémon. She needs a second one for her next contest and it's in two days!]" He argued, causing Aipom's eyes to widen a little.

"[...Really?]" She asked, looking somewhat excited. Pikachu blinked at her, confused.

"[Um yeah. Why, what's up?]" He asked, glad that the subject was changed.

"[Well...I mean, I kinda wanted to give pokémon contests a go,]" Aipom mentioned, blushing a bit at his incredulous look. "[What?!]"

"[Oh uh, sorry. You just...didn't strike me as the type, is all,]" He said timidly, causing Aipom to puff out her cheeks, indignantly.

"[What?! Am I not pretty enough?!]" Aipom asked, causing Pikachu's eyes to widen, considerably.

"[N-no! I didn't mean that! I m-meant that, you know, y-you never really showed much interest back in Kanto!]" Pikachu panicked, trying to explain himself better.

Aipom, however, just smirked at him. "[Pikachu. I'm kidding.]"

Once she said that, Pikachu stopped. "[Oh...]" He let out, sheepishly rubbing one of his ears. "[I-I knew that.]"

"[Sure you did, bud,]" She replied, rolling her eyes. "[Now, we're going to go back and you are going to talk to Buneary.]"

Pikachu's eyes widened and he looked behind him. "[B-but Dawn...]"

"[Finding her new pokémon can wait until after lunch,]" Aipom said, grabbing his arm with her tail hand and pulling him towards the clearing. "[For now, you're going to make a new friend.]"

Pikachu stumbled a little, but sighed and followed her, pouting grumpily. "[Fine...]"

* * *

After they found their way back, they noticed that Buneary was currently having a practice battle against Piplup. The others had formed a crowd on both sides, Turtwig and Starly on one side, Brock and his pokémon on the other, just watching said battle.

"Buneary! Use dizzy punch!" Ash commanded. Buneary nodded and rushed at the penguin, ear extended.

"Piplup! Dodge and use peck!" Dawn said, causing Piplup to jump back and avoid the hit.

Buneary smiled at him and gave him a nod. "[See, now you're getting the hang of it!]"

Piplup smiled, proudly, back. "[Thanks! I always strive to improve my own greatness!]"

"[Yeah, don't push it,]" Buneary teased him, hearing an order to use bounce. "[Now, watch my movement and only dodge when I make my way down. I'll have a harder time hitting you then.]"

"[Noted,]" Piplup nodded as the rabbit sprung up into the air.

* * *

Pikachu and Aipom made their way to the group and, once they were there, Starly smacked Pikachu in the back of the head.

"[Ow! What was that for?]" Pikachu complained, rubbing the back of his head to soothe the pain.

Starly rolled his eyes at him. "[For running away before you introduced yourself, you dummy! Do you know how rude that is?!]" He ranted, folding his wings to his side.

Turtwig flinched at Starly's actions. "[There's no need to hit him, Starly. He's just nervous around her,]" The grass-type explained, causing Pikachu to look at him, confused.

"[How'd you-?]" He started, before it clicked and he glared at Aipom.

Aipom noticed and rolled her eyes. "[Oh come on, buddy, you obviously like her. There's no need to pretend you're keeping it secret!]"

"[I don't have a crush!]" Pikachu argued, folding his arms, grumpily. Though his bright red muzzle was giving him away, big time. "[So she's pretty, really tough and cool. Big deal!]"

Starly blinked, before he smiled, deviously. "[Oh ho ho, so Pikachu's got a crush, eh?]" He laughed, causing Aipom to grin and nod.

Turtwig, however, just smiled weakly at Starly. "[Oh, don't be like that, Starly. I think it's rather sweet.]"

While they were all talking, Pikachu's face was getting redder and redder. So, to get away from the others, he jumped onto Ash's shoulder.

Ash then turned and nodded at the mouse, courteously, before giving another command: "Buneary, fire punch now!"

"[You got it, boss!]" Buneary answered, her ear becoming enveloped in flames before swinging at Piplup.

Said penguin, having been caught off guard, took the attack and landed at Dawn's feet in a heap. "[Ow...]"

"[Well...uh, you're getting better at least!]" Buneary reassured him, rolling one of her ears up. Piplup just groaned and nodded.

Dawn picked Piplup up and hugged him. "No need to worry, Piplup! We'll be ready for the Jubilife contest in no time!"

Ash nodded, giving the penguin a thumbs up. "Yeah, you're both getting better! At the rate you're going, everyone better watch out!" He encouraged, Buneary hopping up onto his other shoulder, smiling at Pikachu.

"[Hi, Pikachu!]" Buneary greeted him, smiling happily.

Pikachu, on the other hand, panicked as she did so. _Oh no! She's talking to me again! Say something! No, run away! No, do something cool! No, compliment her! No, insult her so the others stop bugging you! No, yes, no!_

Pikachu, being so jumbled up by his thoughts, didn't know what to say to the bunny, who was looking at the conflicted, reddening mouse in concern. So, he did the only thing he was capable of doing at that point in time.

"And once we find you a second pokémon, you'll be un- _EWW!"_ Ash exclaimed as Pikachu vomited on his shoulder again.

* * *

Pikachu groaned in annoyance as Brock tried to get him to take some medicine. "[I'm not sick!]" He complained, moving his head to the side as the man tried to spoon feed him.

"Pikachu, just take this and you should be better," Brock reassured the mouse, who refused to listen and turned away again. "Don't make me use drastic measures," He warned the mouse, who just just folded his arms, grumpily.

Brock sighed and turned back. "Okay, fine. But don't say I didn't warn you," He said, motioning someone over.

Pikachu didn't pay any attention, instead he was watching as Aipom, Turtwig, Piplup and Starly rushed into the forest. They were going off ahead to look for a pokémon for Dawn.

Pikachu had wanted to help but, unfortunately, Ash had told him to stay behind because he thought the mouse was sick. Not that he could be blamed, really, since Pikachu had vomited twice today.

Pikachu sighed as his eyes wandered over to Buneary, who had stayed behind for some reason. He couldn't say. He wanted to think that she was worried about him, but that just didn't make sense. After all, they haven't really talked to each other and, whenever they had, he was either a bumbling mess or vomiting.

 _I just need to talk to her once!_ Pikachu thought to himself, not noticing someone approach him from behind. _Then I can get over whatev-_

His thoughts were cut off as something painful jabbed him in the small of his back, causing him to yell out in pain.

Though his yell was cut off by a bitter tasting medicine being forced into his mouth. "I did warn you, Pikachu. Thank you, Croagunk."

Croagunk, who had jabbed the mouse, nodded silently and wandered off. Pikachu was just rubbing his back and glared at the retreating frog. _Why is everyone hitting me today?!_ Pikachu complained to himself, trying to rub the bitter taste of the medicine off of his tongue.

Though, he had to admit, the medicine was settling his stomach a lot more. So, he decided to suck it up and, at least, introduce himself to the bunny.

The rabbit looked up as he approached her and smiled. "[Hey, buddy, are you okay now?]"

Pikachu paused as she said this, somehow caught off guard by the question. "[W-what...?]"

"[I mean, that's the second time you've upchucked today. You haven't gotten the rattles, have ya?]" She asked, concerned, not noticing his bumbling. "[I mean, some of the girls around the forest say that if you nearly get hit by those metal boxes, some pokémon get all sick with adrenaline and stuff.]"

"[N-no...I'm fine. I'm uh Pikachu, by the way,]" Pikachu managed to say, causing Buneary to grin at him.

"[I know, Pikachu, Aipom introduced us all earlier,]" She explained, causing Pikachu to stumble and rub the back of his head, sheepishly.

"[Oh uh, yeah. Sorry, Julie,]" He said, remembering that that was her name.

She just sighed and smiled at him. "[Nah, it's just Buneary now, bud. Gotta get used to it, I guess. It's kinda weird, but I'll get the hang of it.]" She explained, causing Pikachu to nod.

"[Oh okay, sure,]" He replied, awkwardly. "[So, how're you finding the team?]"

"[Everyone's been really nice so far! Starly's fun to talk to. Turtwig's a sweetheart. Aipom's very funny. Piplup's very nice, when he's not being big headed. Bonsly's adorable and Croagunk...well, he's kinda creepy, but I'm sure I'll get used to him!]" She gushed, beaming happily. "[It's so much more interesting than back home!]"

"[Oh?]" Pikachu asked, sitting down. He didn't trust himself to say much else, as the butterfrees in his stomach felt more like a swarm of angry beedrills. And he didn't want any more medicine.

"[Yeah, it was kinda boring, you know? Go out, wash up, find food, find something to kill the time, go to bed, repeat. Snoozeville!]" She rambled, smirking at him. "[I'd much rather travel the world and kick ass! And these gym battles that Starly said we were going to be doing sounds like a lot of fun!]"

"[Heck yeah, it is! Battling's the best!]" Pikachu cheered, pumping his fist in the air, temporarily forgetting about his nerves. "[I've been doing it for months and it never gets old!]"

"[That doesn't surprise me,]" She said, causing Pikachu to look at her. He blushed at her smile and her sparkling eyes as she continued: "[I could tell during the second half of our battle! I could barely keep up with you and how fast you were going! It was really impressive!]"

 _Ah jeez!_ Pikachu thought as his heart started to flutter from the compliments, his muzzle reddening again. "[Eheh, aw shucks, I'm not that great...]"

Buneary blinked, but then grinned at him and punched him, lightly, in the shoulder. "[No need to be modest about it. I mean, I could tell you were taking it easy on me in the first half of the battle. At first, I was annoyed, but jeez! Now I understand why you did! You would've taken me out in no time!]"

 _Gah! Why does my face feel so hot?!_ Pikachu thought to himself, his face burning from all the praise. Though, honestly, said praise was making him feel really proud of himself. "[Aheh...Well thanks. I could teach you sometime, if you want?]" He offered, causing her eyes to light up.

"[Really?]" She asked, her eyes sparkling again. Pikachu nodded, causing her to hop on the spot. "[Aw man! I can't wait! With your help, I'll be able to beat everyone in our way!]"

"[Aheh, yeah,]" Pikachu stumbled, finding her excitement incredibly cute.

There was a pause for a bit, before she got an idea. "[Say, that blue haired girl needs a pokémon, right?]"

Pikachu blinked, a little surprised by the sudden change in subject, but nodded. "[Um yeah, she does.]"

Buneary then grabbed his paw and led him the opposite way to where everyone else went. "[Hey um...where are we going?]" Pikachu asked, his face getting even more red as he felt her paw in his. _It's really soft..._

"[We're going to find my friend, Spring! She'll be perfect for her!]" Buneary mentioned, semi-dragging him away.

* * *

 **ML54: I know it cut off kind of abruptly, but I felt I had to stop at some point. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and keep on keepin' on!**


End file.
